Friday, March 25, 2011

Today at Tractor Supply

This story actually started last night, just about the time we closed. A young girl that I knew from when I worked for the Conservation District came in and she was beside herself. She had lost her dog, Lily, a blue heeler, and she was hopeful that we might have heard a customer talking about a found dog. "No," I said, "but here's a piece of paper and a pen. Make up a notice and put in on the public bulletin board in the back of the store." She did, and they left, and I felt badly for her, because she surely was broken up about that dog.

I came into work tonight, and on my way back to clock in, I saw that she'd been back in, and she'd posted a picture of the dog, along with information on where to call. She had a bunch of those little tabs at the bottom to tear off with her phone number on. A man was studying the picture. I said, "I sure hope someone finds that dog, because her owner is taking it hard." The man said, in a musing way, "I hope I'm wrong, but there's a dead dog lying along side my road that looks a lot like that dog." I winced and hoped with all my heart that he was wrong too.

Fast forward. A regular customer comes in, and he is jubilant. I hear him talking to Mark about a found dog. Being a nosy nellie, I shot right back there. "Is it Lily?" I asked. "Are you talking about Lily?" and he said, "Yes, I am!" And we all had a little 'yesssssssssssssssssss!!!' moment right there in the middle of the store.

Here's the story. The girl is a farrier. A young girl, but really, salt of the earth. She trains this man's horses, and was at his house working with his horses. The dog was in the van, and managed to get herself out of a partially opened window. The customer said, "Well, I came home, and I saw a dog running, but I figured the neighbors had gotten a new dog." It was not until his horse trainer realized that her dog was gone that he realized that he'd seen it. "Gees, that dog was headed out of here and down the road about 20 minutes ago," he told the girl, and she was upset, and he felt terrible.

He continued, "This girl is such a good person. You just don't find kids like her much these days, and I felt bad about this dog. We looked and looked and called and called. We couldn't find the thing." This morning, he woke up, and checked in. The dog still had not been found. When his hired man showed up to work, the man told him to go out and try to find that dog. So the hired man earned his pay today by looking for the dog. He looked and looked and asked everywhere, but he could not find hide nor hair of the dog. At the end of the day, he reported back with the bad news. Then he headed to his own home which is probably a good 15 miles from the farm that he works on. He pulled in his driveway and got out of his vehicle, and saw, much to his shock, a dog on his porch. A blue heeler. Scarcely able to believe it, he walked up to her and called her name. Lily came right to him.

The customer said, "I couldn't believe it when he called me and told me he'd found the dog on his front porch. I thought he was lying. He told me that he wasn't kidding, and that he was on his way back to my place with the dog. I busted down bawling. I was able to call that gal back and told her we found her dog." His eyes got watery just telling me about it.

About Me

I'm the wife of a good man, the mother of good kids, the grandmother of sweet William. I am a student. A small time writer for the local paper. I am funny. I am serious. I am practical. Hardworking. I make great bread. I'm loyal.